SANAA AL-ALI

In recent years, the Middle East has witnessed what many describe as a “Third World War,” where peaceful communities became targets of jihadist groups. Meanwhile, the international community largely turned a blind eye to atrocities that amount to crimes against humanity.

 

Sectarian and Ethnic Massacres

When terrorism wages war on diversity, sectarian and ethnic massacres follow. History is replete with such crimes, and from the mid-20th century to today, jihadist groups have repeatedly targeted communities across the Middle East.

 

Since gaining a foothold in the region—backed by powerful regional and international actors and amplified by unprecedented Arab media support—jihadists have primarily targeted what nation-states label as “minorities”: ancient indigenous peoples such as the Syriacs, Kurds, Druze, and others.

 

Among the most horrific atrocities of the last decade was the 2014 Sinjar Massacre, in which ISIS slaughtered Yazidis, enacting the 74th firman against defenseless civilians. Similarly, fighters from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)—many of whom had fought alongside ISIS—launched attacks on Alawite communities along Syria’s coast and on Druze communities in Sweida, often with international silence or tacit approval.

 

A Manufactured Terror with a Ready Ideology

Terrorism, shaped by Western and Arab intelligence services, found fertile ground in preexisting ideologies rooted in medieval religious texts—particularly the works of Ibn Taymiyyah and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. Both promoted a worldview that branded anyone who thought differently as heretics, and often reduced women to objects.

 

This misogynistic worldview was evident in ISIS’s assault on Sinjar: men were killed en masse, while women were enslaved and sold in open markets. Similarly, HTS fighters abducted women from Alawite villages, many of whose fates remain unknown, and Druze women in Sweida were subjected to abductions and rape despite fierce local resistance.

 

Why Is Rape Used as a Weapon of War?

Rape in wartime cannot be explained simply as a matter of “male instinct.” American historian and activist Susan Brownmiller, author of the landmark 1975 book Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, argued that wartime rape stems from hatred and contempt toward women, and that war offers men the ultimate opportunity to act on that contempt.

 

Impunity plays a major role: the absence of justice and accountability encourages sexual violence during wars. Looting cultures reinforce the idea that women, like property, can be seized and exploited, with rape becoming a tool to humiliate entire communities.

 

Importantly, sexual violence in conflict is not unique to jihadist groups. In Bosnia, soldiers used rape as a tool of ethnic cleansing. In 2017, Myanmar’s army carried out mass rapes of Rohingya women during its campaign in Rakhine State. According to Human Rights Watch, “Burmese security forces committed widespread rapes against women and girls as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims.”

 

Religious Slavery Under the Banner of “Sabaya”

Enslavement of women during war is not new. In ancient times, victorious tribes would seize women and children as slaves—known historically as the Babylonian Captivity in Jewish history. However, unlike ancient practices, jihadist groups today specifically target women for sexual exploitation, justifying it through selective interpretations of religious texts.

 

For ISIS and its affiliates, sexual slavery (sabaya) became both propaganda and recruitment tool. By promising fighters access to women as spoils of war, these groups exploited poverty, ignorance, and sexual repression in conservative societies. Religious decrees (fatwas) then served to absolve perpetrators of guilt, embedding sexual violence into their militant ideology.

 

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Women in Wahhabi Ideology

At the root of modern jihadism lies Wahhabism, an ideology that reduces women to mere objects. Central to its doctrine of “loyalty and disavowal” (al-wala’ wa-l-bara’) is the dehumanization of those deemed outsiders—making their wealth, blood, and honor permissible targets.

 

Wahhabi interpretations elevated misogynistic hadiths that portray women as intellectually and spiritually inferior: “Women are deficient in intellect and religion,” “a woman, a dog, or a donkey breaks prayer,” or “no people will ever prosper if they appoint a woman as leader.” These narrations, compiled centuries after the Prophet’s death, often overshadow the Qur’an itself. Critics of Islamic tradition argue that such teachings, written down two centuries later by scholars far from Arabia, must be reevaluated as they contradict universal human rights and equality.

 

ISIS Revives the Age of Slavery

Among jihadist groups, ISIS stands out as the most violent. From 2014 until its defeat in 2019, it imposed brutal rule across Iraq and Syria. Women—especially Yazidis—were the prime victims. According to official statistics, ISIS abducted 3,504 women and 2,869 men, while an estimated 5,000 Yazidis were killed. Thousands of women and girls were enslaved, raped, and tortured—many still missing today.

 

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Jihadism: The West’s Hand That Bleeds the East

The rise of jihadist groups also served geopolitical agendas. Following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, sectarian rhetoric between Sunnis and Shiites was weaponized. The same divisive strategy unfolded in Sudan (partition in 2011) and later in Syria, where dismantling the Ba’athist regime was followed by empowering jihadists, fueling massacres and pushing communities toward fragmentation.

 

Historical precedents also mattered: late Hanbali and Wahhabi schools produced an abundance of exclusionary fatwas, echoed in Ottoman policies that suppressed religious and cultural diversity for centuries. Today, global powers continue to manipulate sectarian fault lines for their own interests, leaving the Middle East perpetually on the brink of civil war.

 

Syria After 2024: National Unity Defeated

In Syria, the turning point came in December 2024, when jihadists consolidated power. Abu Mohammad al-Jolani (Ahmad al-Sharaa) emerged as the country’s de facto leader under HTS. What followed was a reign of terror: Shia villages in Homs were targeted first, followed by massacres against Alawite communities in coastal regions.

 

By March 2025, mass killings escalated. Despite media censorship by Arab outlets linked to regional sponsors, independent testimonies and leaked videos revealed the scope of atrocities. A June 2025 Reuters report confirmed that at least 33 Alawite women aged 16–39 were abducted during HTS offensives; some were trafficked within Syria, others abroad. Many victims were forced into marriage with their captors—even when already married—and families were extorted for ransom, often without release.

 

Overall, around 1,500 Alawite civilians were killed, echoing the Yazidi tragedy.

 

The Druze: No Protector, No Advocate

If Alawites—considered heretics by Ibn Taymiyyah’s fatwas—suffered massacres, the Druze faced even darker prospects. Not recognized within Islam, Druze communities became prime targets.

 

Clashes began in Jaramana, a Druze-majority area near Damascus, before spreading southward. In July 2025, HTS-backed fighters—often supported by Bedouin militias—launched a large-scale assault on Sweida. According to UN experts, 1,709 people were killed, mostly Druze civilians, and at least 105 Druze women were abducted. Reports documented cases of rape, including of minors, with some women executed afterward. Many survivors remain displaced, too traumatized to return home.

 

Patching the Wounds No Longer Works: Syria Needs a Radical Solution

Today, with Syria fragmented between competing forces—jihadists, remnants of the old regime, Russian and Turkish occupiers—sectarian violence continues to destabilize communities. In Sweida, massacres have sparked calls for autonomy, while Israel quietly fuels the chaos.

 

Hatred is inflamed daily through the media of Syria’s “interim government,” stoking divisions between Kurds and Arabs in the northeast. Yet despite the darkness, many Syrians cling to hope that the country may one day emerge as a democratic, pluralistic, and decentralized state—one that respects women’s rights and equality, and embraces diversity as its defining strength.